


No Return

by orphan_account



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angels are Dicks, Apocalypse, Castiel Whump, Daddy Issues, Dean Whump, Family, Gen, Hurt Dean Winchester, Hurt/Comfort, Winchester Angst, demons are also dicks, john and cas not getting along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-10
Updated: 2014-05-10
Packaged: 2018-01-24 05:32:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1593380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean, Sam, and Cas find themselves on a rescue mission when the angels raise John instead of Adam as a vessel for Michael. Things only get more complicated, however, when John isn't sure what's real, Dean and Cas are hurt, Sam is angry, and it looks like the angels aren't the only ones after them. Plus the apocalypse is still looming. (AU from S5 "Point of No Return.")</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Return

"Dean."

Dean woke abruptly, his hand closing around the hilt of the knife under his pillow several seconds before the familiarity of the gravelly voice reached his brain. Heart pounding, he sat up and opened his eyes, sighing and rubbing his forehead when the numbers on the clock next to his trench-coated visitor came into focus. 3:43.

He turned on the lamp beside his bed and squinted up at Cas with a grimace. "Damn it, Cas," he said, "I told you not to do that."

Normally, of course, he'd have been happy to see the angel. But they'd been up to their asses in unhelpful apocalypse lore lately and the closer the apocalypse loomed, the more a few uninterrupted hours of sleep became all the peace he could get. Still, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and forced the annoyance down. It wasn't Cas's fault he was exhausted.

He studied the angel for a moment. In the light, Cas looked unusually tired as well, and his forehead was crinkled in concern or the angelic equivalent of worry. Dean felt a jolt of regret at his rudeness. Cas was working as hard as any of them and if he was here in the middle of the night, it probably wasn't a social call. Though, Dean supposed, knowing Cas he couldn't entirely rule that out either.

"I apologize for waking you," Cas said, and stepped forward to stand right by the edge of Dean's bed where Dean now sat so that he had to tilt his head up to meet the angel's gaze. "I have news that cannot wait."

"News?" Dean scrubbed a hand across his face, willing the tiredness to recede. "What kind of news?"

Cas's eyes narrowed, and Dean supposed he was trying to figure out whether Dean was actually looking for some sort of categorization. The corner of Dean's mouth turned up. He sobered, however, as soon as Cas began to speak. "The angels have raised another vessel for Michael," Cas said. "I arrived too late to collect him."

"Who?" Dean asked. Of all the lore they were most sure of, it was that Winchester blood was important...which didn't leave many options. He shook his head. "Adam?"

"Not Adam," Cas said slowly, and Dean could've sworn the angel was actually avoiding the punchline. He took a calming breath and gripped the edges of his bed. "A stronger vessel," Cas went on. "More closely tied to you and your brother. A man who's been a vessel before."

"No," Dean said after a moment, the full implications of Cas's speech riding over him.

"Yes," Cas said gravely. "The angels raised John Winchester."

"I don't believe it," Sam said.

They were seated around Bobby's kitchen table, a pot of tea cooling untouched between them. The house was quiet and dark save for the kitchen light burning overhead. Outside, not even the birds had begun to call yet.

"They pulled me out somehow," Dean said. He felt like he was on autopilot, hardly present in the room, let alone in the conversation. Dad was alive. It was all he'd wanted for longer than he cared to admit and yet he couldn't quite believe it either. Worse…he couldn't bury the visceral feeling that things should have stayed as they were, that he and Sammy were better off without Dad and so Dad was better off dead. So much had changed since John had leaned over Dean's hospital bed and told him to kill Sammy or save him. Dean had come to see his father as others had always seen him, a great hunter but an irresponsible man and a piss-poor father. And yet…Dad was Dad. One of the two people Dean had devoted the first twenty-six years of his life to without question because he'd known it was right. Dad was family.

"He was not of use until now, Sam," Cas said, looking around the table. His wide eyes landed on Dean. "Having failed to sway you, Dean, I imagine they thought John Winchester the next best choice. Raising him from the depths of perdition could not have been easy but Michael may believe he is running out of options."

"So he's been down there this whole time?" Bobby asked. "Hellfire and torture and all?"

"Yes," Cas said matter-of-factly. "For him it has been centuries."

Sam's eyes met Dean's at the word centuries, and Dean looked away. He could practically feel Sam radiating sympathy and somehow that made it all the worse. Sure, he was remembering hell, the pain he'd caused and the torment he'd thought would never end. But this wasn't about him.

"Holy hell," Bobby said.

Sam looked at Cas swallowed visibly. "So is he…I mean, how much is…" he glanced at Dean again and winced, "…left?"

Dean pursed his lips and said nothing, but looked to Cas for an answer.

"He remains human," Cas told them. "But he is likely damaged."

In the short silence that followed, Dean studied the table. "He didn't break," he said. Three sets of eyes turned on him, Sam's and Bobby's searching, Cas's too immediately understanding.

"What do you mean?" Sam rested his forearms on the table, folding his hands together, and leaned toward Dean. "Dean, how do you know that?"

Dean sighed. "Alastair told me," he said after a moment, and watched Sam's eyebrows scrunch downward while Bobby's climbed toward his hairline. "When I was…trying to get information about the angel deaths last year, he said a lot of things." He paused and cleared his throat, reflexively burying the pain that surfaced. "He said he'd kept Dad on the rack for a hundred years, giving him the same offer he gave me. Dad never took it."

"Dean that don't mean anything," Bobby said.

Dean shook his head. "Just thought you should all know," he said.

"That changes things," Sam said. He turned to Cas. "How long do you think we have until he wakes up?"

"I do not know," Cas said.

Dean stared at his brother. "Why does that change anything?" he asked.

"Because if that's the case then the angels are going to tell him everything, including how he would've broken the first seal if he'd taken the deal," Sam said earnestly."And, well, don't you think Dad might want to get back at the guy Alastair was working for?" Dean frowned and Bobby shook his head, not quite following. Cas's eyes narrowed.

"What are you saying, Sam?" Dean asked.

"What I'm saying," Sam enunciated, "what I'm saying is Dad might just say yes."

The words sent a ripple around the table.

"You may be right," Cas said.

"No way," Bobby said loudly, crossing his arms.

Dean looked between them then shook his head. "Possession's possession, Sam. Angels or demons." He could still see his father in his mind's eye, yellow-eyed and grinning, then begging his youngest son to shoot him. "It's Dad."

Sam gave a frustrated sigh. "Dad doesn't know angels are dicks," he said, throwing Cas an apologetic look a second later. Cas only tilted his head and gave a half shrug as if to say you've got a point. "I'm not saying he will. But we have to be open to the possibility. He did back in the 70s, remember?"

"He didn't know anything then," Dean said.

"Sam's got a point," Bobby said.

"Okay," Dean allowed. "So we get to him first. Cas, do we know exactly where they're keeping him?"

"I will find out," Cas said, and before Dean could think to respond, he was gone with a flap.

For several seconds, Dean, Sam, and Bobby looked at each other. For once, Dean couldn't think of a damn thing to say.

Bobby broke the silence. "Well that's a doozy," he said, sitting back in his wheelchair and folding his hands in his lap. "You boys okay?"

Dean just stared at him.

"Okay?" Sam responded, a short, incredulous laugh escaping. "This is… this could be great. I mean, once we find him, and get out of this mess and stop the apocalypse, of course…" he shook his head and snorted softly, "we've got Dad back. We hoped for a miracle like this for a long time."

"A miracle," Dean said. "Right." Something about his words made Bobby stare at Dean, a penetrating stare that left him wanting little more than to crawl back into bed and pretend this wasn't happening. He forced a smile at his little brother instead.

"Yeah," Bobby deadpanned, "it's wonderful."

"So what do we do?" Sam asked.

"Now?" Dean said. "What can we do? We wait for Cas." He closed his eyes and rubbed the space between them with his fingers. Dad had spent centuries in hell and all because of him and now he was alive again and even Sam sounded glad to see him. So why the hell wasn't he happier? He backed up his chair suddenly, and Sam and Bobby looked at him sharply as it squeaked on the floor. Dad had gone to hell for him and all Dean had done was become such an ungrateful, selfish son. He stood, feeling sick to his stomach at the realization. They were getting Dad back after he'd sold his soul for Dean and if he couldn't fix whatever was wrong with his head now Dad was going to know it hadn't been worth it.

"Dean, you okay?" Sam asked, pushing back his chair as well. Bobby just looked at him questioningly.

Dean shook his head. "I'm not the one they just pulled out of hell," he said. "I'm going for a walk."

And with that, he trudged over to the door, shrugged on his coat, and exited into the chill morning air. He didn't come back until hours later when his phone jingled in his pocket, an incoming call from Sam, and he picked it up to hear the words, "Come back, Dean. Cas found him."

**Author's Note:**

> I have the first five or so chapters of this story completed and I'll post a new one every couple of days. (After that, it will be in true WIP territory.) Also, this is my first serious stab at Supernatural fic, so comments are very much appreciated. Otherwise, thanks for reading!


End file.
